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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 5h

I’m notorious at two different companies for swinging back dangerously on my chair. Indeed, it was the first thing that colleagues at my old place mentioned to colleagues at my new place.

fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 5h

Clinic sister made me give clinic staff a ticking off as reports of nurses swivel chair races had made it to her ears. As a consultant she said I needed to nip bad behaviour in the bud. Going to have to wait till she's on holiday for the next competition.

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 5h

I am all in favour of the Freaky Friday option. My only qualm is that Sir Keir sounds pretty flat and nasal in English. How will he sound to the French.

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 10h

in this week's newsletter! a very serious piece asking: how would I fare as French Prime Minister, if Emmanuel Macron decided to appoint me? youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/french-pm-...

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 7h

I am genuinely struggling to think of anyone cooler than Johnny Cash.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

I'm going to be quite po-faced about this. I don't think it's right that journalists and national newspapers should set out to expose young people of no particular public importance to ridicule in this way.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

Ridiculous numbers of people on the Elizabeth line this morning. How did these people get to work previously?

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

In those narrow terms, it has indeed been a success. But it’s an epitome of a Pyrrhic victory.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

You’re paying the speech more attention than it merits both intellectually and in terms of public discourse.

But doesn’t it simply indicate the parlous position of the Conservatives, who *now* need to offer red meat to the 5% of the electorate they can hope to win back from Reform?

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

If peace is going to break out in Gaza, however haltingly, let’s just take the good news.

There’s been precious little recently.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

Putting Traitors into the Bluesky search function is quite a rollercoaster ride.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 1d

Celia Imre and Tom Daley - hmm. Both have the aura of harmlessness.

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

If you're going to dunk on Milei's devotees or the MMT advocates, you have to have some idea of what you think will work instead. Right now, there seems to be only defeatism.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

My main thought about British politics just now is that I'm keen to hear from anyone with a new theory of growth. The old ones aren't working and no one seems to be coming up with much new, and instead we're retrying the ones that have already failed.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

Twitter meets the real world.

Andrew R @excelpope.net · 2d

See yer da’s got a new car.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

Well *clearly* it's better to be a Traitor than a Faithful, because you're only at risk of being eliminated once a day rather than twice a day, and the odds are stacked in your favour at the end.

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · 2d

With Celebrity Traitors kicking off tonight, our study of 35,000 Britons found that 20% would prefer to be a Traitor versus 55% a Faithful - but how do the two groups differ in terms of politics and personality? 👇

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · Jan 22

"I don't mind being ruthless to get what I want": how do the personalities of Britain's traitors and faithfuls differ?

YouGov Profiles data shows traitors have more ruthless, deceptive, money-oriented, risk-taking and rule-breaking tendencies than faithfuls 👇

yougov.co.uk/entertainmen...

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

The only prize for Kemi in 2025.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Nobel prize in chemistry awarded to scientists for work on porous materials

Trio honoured for developing revolutionary materials for applications ranging from gas storage to drug delivery The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists who created revolutionary porous materials that can harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide from industrial facilities and remove toxins from water. Susumu Kitagawa, of Kyoto University, Richard Robson, of the University of Melbourne, and Omar Yaghi, of the University of California, Berkeley, shared the 11m Swedish kronor (about £871,400) prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

Also, why on earth would an opposition party reinstate a tax break for private schools years after the event? Whether the original decision to scrap it was right or wrong (spoiler, it was right), behaviours will have adjusted by then. It's giving a bung to the richest for no good reason.

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

I know this is hardly the biggest point (and I know the real answer), but why would an opposition party make tax and spending pledges *four years* from a general election, when the circumstances in which that campaign will be fought are quite unknowable.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

That, coupled with a lack of flexibility. When the Conservatives lost in 1945, their position was confuted. Their leadership had the wit to rethink what Conservativism meant post-war, and were back in power and ideologically rooted in 6 years.

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Reposted by Alastair Meeks

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 2d

One of the Conservative party's contributions to our country has been keeping people who think you can measure integration through skin colour out of office - what next, are they only going to be lukewarm on the property-owning democracy?

Thank the Tories for keeping Robert Jenrick out of high office

Shadow justice secretary’s comment about not seeing a ‘white face’ shows he does not understand integration

www.ft.com

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

Also, there's a photograph of the Duke of Wellington.

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

As usual, my example is that Anthony Eden's widow would have had a Covid jab.

rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 2d

you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

It's the sheer carelessness with their voter base that is so striking about the Conservatives' current approach, at a time when they are desperately low on support.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

If you want to retain your ethnic minority voters, banging on about failure to integrate is probably not going to help.

If you want to retain the quarter of your supporters who want to remain in the ECHR, taking a dogmatic approach on this is probably not going to help.

!/2

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

The Lib Dems’ challenge is to remain a blank canvass onto which voters can project their hopes. As they get more scrutiny, that will become harder.

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Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 2d

The government equivalent of finding a fiver down the side of the sofa.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · 2d

UK public borrowing revised down by £3B due to VAT data error – ONS.

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